A small five-game NBA slate on Saturday, but never fear, as the Before You Bet team has you covered as we take a look at three games on the slate starting with the Cavaliers and Thunder from 12pm Saturday.
Ben Bridge brings you his NBA betting tips for Saturday 28th January below!
NBA Betting Tips: Saturday January 28th
Cleveland Cavaliers at Oklahoma City Thunder
Paycom Center, Saturday 12:00pm AEDT
The Cavaliers travel to OKC for a second game of an away back to back, after beating the Rockets yesterday in Houston 113-95. Despite the win, the Cavs would have to be a little concerned with the lingering injury issues surrounding star guard Donovan Mitchell, who missed his 4th game in 5 in the win against Houston.
The Thunder have continued to outperform expectations, as we mentioned last week in their matchup with the Kings. They have continued winning games regularly, winning 7 of their past 10 matches to sit in 11th place in the west, just 0.5 a game back from 10th and a spot in the play-in tournament.
Since the start of December, the Thunder have the 8th highest scoring offense, whilst conceding the 9th fewest points per game across the association. I like the way they are playing, and they continue to get contributions across the floor, whilst being led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging 30.8 points per game this season.
If the Cavs are without Mitchell, and I believe they will be, I love the Thunder in this spot. The Cavs head home after this game, with three tough games against the Clippers, Heat, and Grizzlies. They will need Mitchell at full health, so they shouldn’t risk him here. Let’s take the Thunder in a small upset.
Oklahoma City Thunder
$2.05 (2 units)
Orlando Magic at Miami Heat
FTX Arena, Saturday 12:00pm AEDT
The Orlando Magic have looked a little better over the past couple of weeks, with nice wins over the Pelicans, Celtics, and Pacers, punctuated by tight losses to the Nuggets and Jazz, and a blowout loss to the Wizards. Their young core is growing together, and the organisation are surely hoping that if they can keep this nucleus together, they will be playoff contenders as early as next year.
Today though, they take on the best defence in the league over the past two months, in the Miami Heat. In their 9 wins in January, the Heat have averaged just 101.8 points per game allowed, and have held teams under 100 points in 4-straight wins.
The Magic have to back up tomorrow in a home game with the Bulls, which they would consider themselves live, and I wouldn’t be overly surprised if some of their youngsters are rested for this game with the Heat, or at the very least are given early showers, particularly if the Heat shut them down early.
I like the Heat in this game, but that 7.5-point spread has me a little scared, so I’ll stick with the Heat turning up their defence and keeping the Magic in check.
Orlando Magic Team Total Under 105.5
$1.87
Toronto Raptors at Golden State Warriors
Chase Center, 2:00pm AEDT
The Warriors have continued to be difficult to judge, and thus difficult to bet on this season. After blowing what looked to be a huge road win against the Celtics last Friday, they’ve split wins and losses in their past 3 at Cleveland (W), vs Brooklyn (L), and vs Memphis (W). They’ve been playing tight games in that time, with 5-straight single digit differences between the teams in those matches.
I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the Raptors of late, and they look to finally be making their move towards a play-in spot. They’ve won 6 of 10, and in the past 3 losses they’ve remained competitive against very good teams. They stack up well offensively and defensively when it comes to efficiency, and their numbers in general bely their average win-loss record. I believe they’re a far better team than their record suggests, and I can see them keeping things close with the Warriors here.
Toronto Raptors +5.5
$1.91
